JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and NYSE-listed Platinum Group Metals (PTM) has delivered notice to Sprott Resource Lending Partnership for the drawdown of a $40-million working capital facility, executed in February.
The company had also entered into agreements with its largest shareholder Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Insurance, for a further $40-million loan facility, subject to regulatory and disinterested shareholder approval and Waterberg project partner approval.
These financings are planned to allow the company to complete the ramp-up at its Western Bushveld Joint Venture (WBJV) Project 1 platinum mine and for general working capital.
Cold commissioning of the plant was in progress and platinum and palladium concentrate production was set to start in the weeks ahead.
First concentrate delivery to Anglo Platinum's Waterval smelter, in Rustenburg, was planned for January, while underground development was ongoing.
“We are pleased to finalise these arrangements and we will be looking for prompt approval by regulators and shareholders. These important financing steps avoid the equity market and allow our team to focus on the start of production and ramp-up,” commented CEO and co-founder Michael Jones.
PTM had delivered the construction and development of Project 1 within the updated budget and schedule.
At planned steady-state production in 2018, the WBJV Project 1 was expected to be one of the lower-cost conventional platinum group metal mines in South Africa, with an expected cash cost of about $625/oz.
The company continued to work on growth at the project, funded by the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, with continued drilling, resource modelling, mine design, metallurgy and infrastructure planning all under way.
Exploration to expand and further delineate the Waterberg project was ongoing.